Although she knew Gu Chengyin was speaking off the top of his head, Luo Zhao still felt a surge of anger welling up inside her uncontrollably.
No one but Gu Chengyin would dare to say such things, and no one else would dare to say them to her face in that tone that mixed teasing with a hint of seriousness.
She was the Crown Princess, the future Empress, second only to Emperor Luo in all of Da Luo.
From childhood to now, everyone who met her had been nothing but respectful and deferential, treading carefully around her.
Even the old veterans of the great aristocratic families had to address her properly as "Your Highness" in her presence.
No one dared to overstep their bounds, and no one dared to show the slightest disrespect.
But Gu Chengyin, of all people, not only dared to make her a concubine but also dared to bring her father into his nonsense.
As if he were implying that father and daughter alike were eagerly offering her to him as a lesser wife.
The more Luo Zhao thought about it, the angrier she became, and the more the fire in her chest burned fiercely.
The fury she had released by biting him back in the courtyard was now like wild grass in spring—with a single gust of wind, it regrew even more vigorously than before.
Her gaze involuntarily fell on Gu Chengyin's arm, the spot she had bitten.
She really wanted to sink her teeth into this red egg again, Luo Zhao thought bitterly to herself.
Last time it had been his arm. This time she would pick a different spot, bite his neck, bite his—
Luo Zhao was startled by her own thought and quickly pulled her mind back.
She looked away from Gu Chengyin's arm and back at the imperial decree.
But the blush on her face refused to fade, and the tips of her ears burned hot, as if they had been lightly touched with a branding iron.
Just as Gu Chengyin was about to say something else, he suddenly stopped.
His lips pressed together, swallowing the rest of his words, and his gaze shifted away from Luo Zhao's face.
Luo Zhao knew exactly why Gu Chengyin had suddenly gone quiet.
Because Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli had returned.
Unlike the tense standoff in the courtyard just moments ago, their steps now carried a cautious, hesitant quality.
Like a child who had done something wrong, lingering near the door before coming home, gathering up enough courage before finally pushing it open and stepping inside.
One tall and one small, the two beauties walked over and stood to Gu Chengyin's side.
Lin Qingyan walked in front. As she crossed the threshold, her skirt lightly brushed across the floor, producing a faint rustling sound.
Her hands hung naturally at her sides, her fingers slightly curling as if she were unconsciously gripping something invisible.
Her gaze rested on the floor a short distance in front of her toes. She did not lift her head to look at Gu Chengyin.
Nor did she look at Luo Zhao. She simply walked quietly to Gu Chengyin's side and then stopped.
Gu Xiaoli followed half a step behind Lin Qingyan, her footsteps even lighter than Lin Qingyan's, as if afraid of disturbing something.
Her little head was slightly lowered, her chin nearly touching her chest. Both hands twisted in front of her, fingers fidgeting with each other absentmindedly.
She walked to Gu Chengyin's other side and stopped as well.
Then, the two of them lowered their heads at the same time.
"I'm sorry, Chengcheng."
Lin Qingyan's voice was very soft, soft as the first snowflake falling on a tiled roof in winter, carrying a gentleness and concession she rarely displayed.
As she apologized, her gaze remained fixed on the ground, her long lashes lowered, casting a small fan-shaped shadow over her eyelids.
Her lips were pressed together slightly, her lip line taut, as if she were holding back something with great effort.
"I'm sorry, brother."
Gu Xiaoli's voice was even smaller than Lin Qingyan's, small as the first mew of a newborn kitten in spring.
Soft and sweet, with a hint of a faint nasal tone.
As she spoke, she secretly peeked up at Gu Chengyin, then quickly lowered her eyes again.
In that one glance, there was guilt, unease, and a tiny bit of cautious ingratiation.
As if she were saying, "Brother, please don't be angry at Xiaoli anymore, okay?"
"We know we were wrong."
This line was spoken by both of them in unison.
Lin Qingyan's voice was clear and crisp, Gu Xiaoli's soft and sticky. The two voices layered together, and there was an indescribable harmony to it.
After admitting their mistake and apologizing, neither of them said another word. They simply stood there quietly.
One kept her eyes lowered to the ground, the other twisted her fingers and stared at the hem of her clothes, like two schoolchildren being made to stand in the corner as punishment.
Watching this scene, Luo Zhao closed her eyes in despair.
She knew it.
She knew it would turn out exactly like this!
Just as she had guessed, after convincing themselves, those two would certainly come to Gu Chengyin to apologize and admit their fault on their own initiative.
Lin Qingyan, that immortal fairy, might seem cold and aloof on the surface, but deep down she was more reasonable than anyone.
What she hated most in the world was being called unreasonable or short-sighted.
So she would constantly reflect on herself, and the more she reflected, the more she felt she truly had done something wrong.
Not to mention that this time it had been Gu Chengyin who said it, so Lin Qingyan would only blame herself even more.
And Gu Xiaoli needed no explanation at all.
That catgirl loli's feelings for Gu Chengyin had long since surpassed ordinary affection.
It was a complex emotion mixed with dependence, admiration, trust, and a certain sentiment she herself might not even fully realize.
When Gu Chengyin told her to reflect, she would reflect earnestly.
She would chew over every action and every word from the courtyard, over and over again.
Then she would arrive at a conclusion: she had caused her brother trouble, and it was her fault.
The two reflected separately, and the conclusions they reached were exactly the same.
Which led to the present scene.
Luo Zhao opened her eyes, looking at Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli standing before Gu Chengyin with their heads bowed, and a complicated feeling churned inside her.
It contained helplessness, absurdity, a wariness of Gu Chengyin's methods, and a faint, subtle hint of envy.
If only she had Gu Chengyin's skills.
True feelings never last, but tricks win hearts every time.
Lin Qingyan's feelings for Gu Chengyin were real, and Gu Xiaoli's feelings for Gu Chengyin were real too.
Both of them genuinely liked him and cared about him.
But in the end, it was they who apologized first, and they who bowed their heads in admission.
And still they were led around by the nose by Gu Chengyin.
As for what Gu Chengyin had done—
He had done nothing at all. He had only said a few words and waved his hand.
And that had been enough to bring these two women, who had been at each other's throats moments earlier, came back to admit their mistakes obediently.
If that wasn't a trick, what was?
As for the proactive apology from Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli,
Gu Chengyin did not put on airs either. He nodded and said:
"To err is human, and correcting one's mistakes is the highest good. I forgive you both."
His voice was very gentle, gentle as a ray of sunlight streaming through a lattice window on a spring afternoon—not blazing, not scorching.
It simply fell warmly upon the skin, filling the heart with comfort.
There was no blame in his eyes, no displeasure, only a soft indulgence.
Hearing these words, an obvious look of joy spread across Lin Qingyan's face.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
